Trey Griffey working on making the Steelers, with support from his dad

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 29, 2018, 11:18 AM EDT

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Steelers receiver Trey Griffey has been asked a million times why he plays football instead of baseball.

The son of Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and grandson of three-time MLB All-Star Ken Griffey Sr., Trey would seem to be destined to play baseball as well. But he says his reason for playing football instead of baseball is simple: He likes it better. And his dad was the first to realize that his son was better suited for trying to make it on his own as an athlete, rather than demanding that he go into the family business.

“Everybody has a love for something . . . and I have a love for football,” Trey told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Me and my dad talked about it and he said, ‘You have a love for football, and I could see that from a young age. I’ll always support you.’ He was never like, ‘You have to play baseball.’ He was a father, supporting his son with whatever choice I was making and leading me down the right path.”

So far, Trey Griffey hasn’t made his mark in the NFL. He played his college football at Arizona and went undrafted last year, and although he spent time on the rosters of the Colts and Dolphins in the offseason, he was out of the league for the entire 2017 season. In January the Steelers picked him up, however, and now he’s trying to make the roster in Pittsburgh.

Trey Griffey will have to surprise a lot of people to make the Steelers’ roster, but he knows he has a father who’s rooting for him, and urging him to put in the work necessary to make it in the sport he loves.

“My dad always told me, ‘I want to be known as Trey Griffey’s dad. I had my time when I was playing.’ That’s something that, when you hear that from your dad, you’re like, ‘Wow.’ With his track record, all of the awards and going to the Hall of Fame, for him to say something like that is amazing,” Trey Griffey said.

Sounds like Trey has a dad who’s proud of him for following his dream, whether he makes the Steelers or not.

No it doesn’t. So many privileged kids turn out to be idiots. Rich doesn’t equal smart
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You’re missing his point badly. He didn’t mean being rich made you more capable of achieving your dreams, He simply meant that not having to worry about money makes it easier to spend your time chasing dreams instead of, you know, having to make money.

I drive by the Donora exit on I-70 near Pittsburgh quite a bit. Knowing the unique history one day at lunchtime I got off. Donora is more Snore-a these days. The only place open for lunch was a ma and pa pizza shop. Didn’t make my top ten list.

Donora, birthplace of Stan Musial and Ken and Ken Griffey Jr. Must be something in the water. There was something called the Donora Smog Museum…..what? Wasn’t open.

I think someone with his background may as well try the NFL as opposed to MLB. Traveling around with minor league teams trying to live up to dad? Rarely do the children of HOF athletes in any sports live up to their hype. Try and make your own path.

So many missing the point here. This kids dad is legitametly as talented at something as a human can possibly be in any field. That he’s not pushing his son anymore than any normal person would in any direction is staggering. Gauss made his son leave Germany for America and told him he couldn’t be a mathematician so that he didn’t diminish the family name.

To be as great at something as Griffey is takes a psyche so obsessed with perfection that it’s difficult to comprehend, yet he’s been able to turn around and do everything he could to help his son be the man his son wants to be without interference. Amazing.

I loved watching Ken Griffey, Jr. play in Seattle, but his greatness was surely diminished by his years there. Laboring on bad teams for half a decade, in South Alaska, he didn’t nearly get the attention he would have on almost any other team. Also, he lost a lot to the unforgiving surface of the Kingdome, laying out for faboulous catches then slamming to the concrete-like turf.

And no, he didn’t take PEDs. He was always about flexibility and form, not strength; it was well-known that he never lifted weights or did any kind of strength training. His swing was a thing of beauty, I was mesmerized by it.

Yes I am somewhat biased but I think any conversation of greatest players to ever play the game, has to include him.

Glad he is supoorting his son. My father is a hard-worker, up before dawn every day, never takes a day off. I’m the opposite, I am lazy and I have a total lack of ambition. Yet he has always supported me, always just wanted me to do what makes me happy, even if he can’t understand it. And now I am a happy, well-adjusted person with a pretty enviable life. Thanks Pops.